Sunday, January 2, 2011

30 day Challenge: Day 1

I am participating in this 30 Day Challenge- as described on ground rules. The idea is to focus on one thing and do it every day for 30 days. They gave the example- practicing the piano for 15 minutes each day. Then you post a video every day talking about your "project"- about your successes and failures, etc. Originally I thought "I'll teach myself to crochet a new motif each day!", something I've been wanting to do for a few years... but then the idea hit me- I want and need to get back to painting. I put it aside during grad school and now that I am a mom, I don't want to abandon my art until my kids are off to college... and this is what I want to do with my life make art SO my 30 day challenge is to paint one painting each day!

Here are MY ground rules: These paintings can be small, or large, in oil, watercolor, ink or gouache. And having a newborn shouldn't be too much of a hindrance, since during my undergrad we were given the assignment to do a drawing every 5 minutes during a 3 hour figure class. SO I shall keep this time limitation in mind! ; )

So I might not make a video each day of my 30 day challenge, but I will check in daily on my blog and share photographs and then perhaps a video at the end of the week! Be sure to check in every day on my blog to see a new painting. At the end I might sell them on my NEW etsy shop GrayDayStudio.

Here is my Painting from Day 1

My thoughts: today's painting was like a stretch after a long winter of sitting on my ass. And coincidentally- I must work on that resolution too ; ) This painting was of some dried dune foliage, painted on Reeves BFK gray paper with gouache and watercolor. And of course after seeing it as a photo- I see areas that I could "revisit"...(click on image to view larger, not the best detailed pic, but will have to do!) I didn't spend long on it, since the baby began to stir the moment my brush literally dipped into the paint! Luckily she settled down, but this will be interesting! I had fun revisiting the process of painting, of remembering how easily you can destroy a little area and how you didn't realize how special that area was until it was gone. I also dove into the white paint towards the end and used it as a tool to create both positive and negative areas around the foliage. I got crap for my use of white during grad school, which is probably one of the reasons I focused on installations rather than painting during those two years, but fuck it, I like white paint! I understand why not to use it so much and to not mix every color with white, I get it, duh, but sometimes white is such a purifying element and helps you cover up your mistakes ; )

Anyway, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's painting. I think I will have to whip out the oil paint this week, as the watercolor and gouache are sometimes chalky and dull for what I want, but we'll see I could change my mind! Check in tomorrow for my Day 2!

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I'm an artist, I make stuff and plant stuff in the ground. I grew up hearing "oh well you could make that!" from my mother in response to almost anything. This blog is a recording of both my creative adventures and my goal to live a "greener" lifestyle.